A few facts about energy access and electricity production in Africa: * About 70% of Africans have no access to electricity. * The entire electric capacity of sub-Saharan Africa is 68% that of Spain. * South Africa’s electricity generation accounts for more than half of all SSA capacity. * Commercial users register power outages over 50 times a year, whereas the US standard is one day in ten years. * 80% of the African continent still relies on biomass as cooking fuel. African scientists issue policy recommendations to increase access and generation of electricity Often missing from ambitious global campaigns Continue reading
Studies
PAPER: Biomass Briquettes: Turning Waste Into Energy
Tom Selleck says, “if there’s a global alliance to put a clean cookstove in every pot, then there should be planetary partnership to but a better briquette in every clean cookstove.”
Peak Oil vs Peak Biomass: Are we there yet?
This New York Times article, based on the IEA (International Energy Agency) latest World Energy Outlook, suggests humanity is on the downward slope of the oil availability curve. We’ve often wandered what analogies, if any, existed between the concepts of “peak oil” and “peak biomass.” After all, both the fossil fuel industry and the biomass fuel community speak of “energy efficiency,” “carbon and particulate emissions,” “transport costs,” “public health,” and “environmental, Climate Change, and social impact” of these fuels. So, can we speak of “peak biomass?” And are we there yet? I think the answer is yes and no. Yes, Continue reading
Position: Consultant for local biomass cooking demand assessment in Masai Mara.
Dear all, I was wondering if anyone had any suggestions for young NGO that is opening a wood-energy school in the Masai Mara with support from DANIDA (Danish foreign cooperation). They write: “We’re looking for suggestions of how we can get a knowledgeable individual who can lead a baseline study of biomass cooking demands in the three towns surround the conservancy so we can get a good idea of what we need to be planting to supply the hotel industry and local communties. We would essintially be looking for a very patient and motivated indivudal who can obtain an accurate Continue reading
Insects £134bn, coral £109bn – UN puts a value on nature’s resources
Pioneering report equates biodiversity to cash in hope of encouraging conservation By Michael McCarthy, Environment Editor, The Independent, London, UK Thursday, 21 October 2010 Nature and the services it provides are worth trillions of dollars annually to human society, and governments and businesses must formally recognise this to halt the continuing degradation of the natural world, a groundbreaking UN report said yesterday. The enormous economic value of forests, freshwater, soils and coral reefs, as well as the social and economic consequences of their loss, must be factored into political and economic policies in all countries, according to the new study Continue reading